Microsoft’s acquisition of ZeniMax Media (which importantly includes the Bethesda Softworks brand) has left millions of people wondering just what this means for the future of the Xbox Series X and Game Pass as well as upcoming Bethesda titles like The Elder Scrolls 6, Starfield, and any upcoming Fallout projects.
Let’s start with what we know for sure about this subject. In a press release, Microsoft made it clear that this deal includes just about everything that comes with the ZeniMax Media brand, especially in regards to Bethesda. Specifically, they cite “publishing offices and development studios spanning the globe with over 2,300 employees,” all associated Bethesda development partners, and properties such as “The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, DOOM, Quake, Wolfenstein, and Dishonored” as being the key components of this deal.
Essentially, then, the terms of this arrangement would suggest that Microsoft does technically own the rights to Bethesda’s most popular franchises. However, Bethesda’s Pete Hines makes it clear that Bethesda still intends to operate as they would have before this acquisition was completed.
“The key point is we’re still Bethesda,” Hines says. “We’re still working on the same games we were yesterday, made by the same studios we’ve worked with for years, and those games will be published by us.”
Furthermore, Robert A. Altman, chairman and CEO of ZeniMax Media, the parent company of publisher Bethesda Softworks, LLC, states that they “are continuing to develop our slate of AAA games, but now with Microsoft’s scale and entire Game Stack, our games can only get better.” All of that information supports the idea that Microsoft does not currently intend to alter the day-to-day operations of Bethesda. That situation could always change, but it’s worth noting that recent Microsoft partners have given no indication that Microsoft has requested significant creative control of their operations.
What about the games, though? If we’re sticking with what we know for sure, then we can tell you that Microsoft has verified that they currently intend for major Bethesda games to be added to the Game Pass library on day one. They specifically named Starfield as a title that they want to bring to Game Pass on the day that it’s commercially released. It’s important to note that they used the word “intent” in regard to that plan, so it certainly sounds like it is subject to change.
Deciphering the fate of future Bethesda games like The Elder Scrolls 6 requires us to be a little more speculative. At the moment, nobody has indicated that Microsoft has specific plans in place to make certain Bethesda games exclusive to Xbox consoles and PC. Here again, we can point to recent history which strongly suggests that Microsoft is not interested in acquiring such companies only to have their major upcoming releases be exclusive to the Xbox platforms. To put it another way, The Elder Scrolls 6 could potentially sell 30+ million copies across all platforms, and Microsoft probably wants to be the parent company of such a project more than they want the potential hardware sales that could come from such an exclusive. Again, that is speculative, but Bethesda’s Todd Howard did note in a published statement that this partnership is about “more than one system or one screen” and that it’s based on a “belief we should bring that to everyone – regardless of who you are, where you live, or what you play on…the screen size, the controller, or your ability to even use one.”
Having said that, Ninja Theory’s Bleeding Edge is currently exclusive to Xbox One and PC as is Obsidian’s Grounded. There is precedent for Microsoft to encourage their partners to develop smaller projects that will eventually be at least a timed exclusive. That could mean that some of the studios under the Bethesda umbrella will eventually develop exclusive projects for the Xbox brand. In fact, Phil Spencer informed Bloomberg that while Microsoft will honor existing PS5 exclusivity deals for Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo, they will be determining the availability of future Bethesda titles on a case-by-case basis:
Interestingly, some fans were quick to point out that this now means that Microsoft now owns Fallout, Bethesda, and Obsidian. Does that mean that Obsidian can start developing Fallout: New Vegas 2? Obsidian took to Twitter to offer their simple response to that question:
Taking all of that information into account, our best guess is that Microsoft acquired ZeniMax Media in order to bolster their creative war chest, expand their reach as a game publisher, and to strengthen the Game Pass brand by offering a wider array of Bethesda titles (including day one releases) via the subscription service. However, it does not sound like the plan at this time is for major Bethesda games (including The Elder Scrolls 6) to be exclusive to Xbox and PC. As always, though, such plans are almost certainly subject to change as this deal, and the gaming industry, continues to evolve.